Monday, April 3, 2017

Training: "Leave it" in 5 Steps

"Leave it" is a training skill that could potentially save your dog's life. Before you start to train your dog on how to leave something on the ground, it's best that they have already mastered "sit" and leash walking. Below, I have outlined how to teach your dog how to "Leave It", but first I would like to explain how to go about teaching your dog this skill:

1. Only teach your dog a new skill for about 15 minutes a day in 5 minute sessions. "Leave it" is a good skill to practice during commercial breaks. 😏 If you go all hard core on the training and do more than 15 minutes a day in 5 minutes sessions, you risk over saturating your dog and stressing them out.... or they will just become plain ol' bored with the task and not listen to you.

2. In my steps, you will see "P/R". This means "Praise and Reward". Praise= a "good job" or "good boy/girl!" with lots of happy enthusiasm. Reward= a treat. Usually pea sized treats are sufficient for training sessions. If your dog does not respond to food treats, you may need to get creative on what reward to use.

3. Do not move onto the next step until your dog has mastered the previous step. Mastering a step may take a few days. These steps are not meant to be blasted through in one day!

And now.... the steps!

Once your dog has mastered step five, you can move on to practicing with real life objects: table scraps, cat boxes, dirty diapers... pretty much all the gross stuff dogs like to get into that they really shouldn't. Once the skill is learned by your dog, make sure to practice it weekly in order to maintain the training! Otherwise, you may have to start all over again. 😞